Massachusetts pot activists' next goal: full legalization

Wednesday

Jan 29, 2014 at 2:39 AMJan 29, 2014 at 7:46 AM

With the state poised to announce the names and locations of up to 35 approved dispensaries for medical marijuana on Friday, activists in Massachusetts are also feeling emboldened by voters' growing acceptance of the drug and say they are gearing up for a statewide ballot question in 2016 to fully legalize it.

Chris Burrell The Patriot Ledger @Burrell_Ledger

QUINCY – With the state poised to announce the names and locations of up to 35 approved dispensaries for medical marijuana on Friday, activists in Massachusetts are also feeling emboldened by voters' growing acceptance of the drug and say they are gearing up for a statewide ballot question in 2016 to fully legalize it.Six applicants from communities south of Boston are among the 100 vying for medical marijuana dispensary licenses from the state Department of Public Health. Those communities include Quincy, Plymouth, Norwell, Holbrook and Stoughton, but Norwell stands alone in the region in having set up zoning to allow the facilities.

Dispensaries could be up and running within a couple months, said Matthew J. Allen, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance in Boston, which helped push for the 2012 ballot question that proposed legalizing medical marijuana for seriously ill patients. Nineteen other states in the U.S. have similar laws allowing medical marijuana.

While the prospect of medical marijuana in Massachusetts delights would-be patients such as Gerry Canty, a West Quincy resident with leukemia, it worries others such as local police and the Massachusetts Medical Society.

"It will alleviate my pain and overall help me with my stress and depression," said Canty, who added that he registered to vote two years ago solely so he could back the statewide ballot question to legalize medical marijuana.

"Everyone is concerned in law enforcement about some of it getting into the wrong hands," Glynn said. "There's a lot of temptation on the criminal side. You really don't want someone knowing that it's on a person or in a house. It may lead to break-ins. There's a dynamic to it, and we're all waiting for it to unfold."

While some physicians are embracing the drug and have begun issuing certificates to patients so they can purchase up to 10 ounces of marijuana every two months at dispensaries, the Massachusetts Medical Society is watching with a very cautious eye.

"Patients should remember that marijuana lacks the rigorous testing of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration; that claims for its effectiveness have not been scientifically proven; and that it poses health risks of toxins and cognitive impairment, the last condition being especially risky for young patients," the society's president, Dr. Ronald Dunlap, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Dunlap wrote last fall that in Colorado, which approved medical marijuana in 2000, "12 physicians had certified half of the 108,000 registered patients, and one registered more than 8,000."

Others in this debate are looking to Colorado with a mood of optimism, not skepticism. Voters in Colorado approved the recreational use of marijuana in 2012, and sales began earlier this month.

William Downing, a Reading resident who is treasurer of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, said Massachusetts voters are ready to follow Colorado and Washington, where recreational marijuana sales will begin in the middle of this year.

"This progression is just the normalization of marijuana instead of being afraid of a plant that is actually useful," he said.

Downing pointed to the track record of Massachusetts' voters. In 2008, 65 percent backed a proposal to decriminalize possession of cannabis, making being caught with an ounce or less a civil offense punishable by a fine of $100.

Two years ago, voters decisively passed a ballot question – 63 to 37 percent – legalizing the use of medical marijuana.

Peter Ubertaccio, who directs Stonehill College's Martin Institute for Law and Society in Easton, said the momentum of the last two statewide ballot-question votes bodes well for Massachusetts becoming the third state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana use.

Ubertaccio predicts a battle over the issue but said, "Since we decriminalized small amounts of marijuana and have allowed for medicinal marijuana, the arguments against legalization don't carry as much weight."

Despite the belief by police that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs and the warnings from some physicians, Ubertaccio said the culture has come to view marijuana more in line with alcohol and tobacco and not in the same category as highly addictive cocaine or opiates.

State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, views the issue from a public health standpoint, not as a financial consideration.

"I have no idea of the potential revenues for the state," he said. "Public health concerns should be the driver. We need to watch this closely as it unfolds and rely on input from law enforcement, medical professionals and public health officials."

Christopher Burrell may be reached at cburrell@ledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @Burrell_Ledger.

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Massachusetts pot activists' next goal: full legalizationWith the state poised to announce the names and locations of up to 35 approved dispensaries for medical marijuana on Friday, activists in Massachusetts are also feeling emboldened by voters' growing acceptance of the drug and say they are gearing up for a statewide ballot question in 2016 to fully legalize it.